Legends of Terra: Return of the Summoner Queen
by ObsidianFlutes
Summary: It's back! Welcome to the fourth and final epic in the Legends of Terra saga! After four thousand years of slumber, summoner Princess Ixia awakens and finds herself in the position of Headmistress of the secret, underground Summoners' Guild, plotting vengeance upon the casters who destroyed her kingdom so long ago...
1. Prologue

Prologue

_Long ago, more than four thousand years before the Second Defeat of Cthulhu, when the four great Guardians of the Seasons were children, Terraria was ruled by a great line of kings and queens. This family of royals practiced a strange and different type of combat: summoning. For in those days, Terraria was threatened and ravaged by massive packs of dire wolves and hellhounds. After several major battles, the rulers finally drove out the beasts with their minions, the great hydra and tempests that sprang from their weapons and fought off the monsters with icy breath and swirling winds._

_For a long while, the kingdom was at peace. Casters and summoners coexisted in harmony and accepted each other._

_The kingdom's most beloved rulers, the good King Leonidus Lightspirit and his lovely queen, Iphiria, came to power. After a year on the throne, the birth of the young Princess Ixia sent great excitement and joy throughout the entire kingdom. How ironic indeed that the adored royal family would indeed be the last!_

_When Ixia turned fifteen, tension was forming between the respective caster and summoner communities, differing opinions of combat and might. As the young Princess entered her final teenage years, the tensions began to run so high that innocent people started getting killed._

_On her eighteenth birthday, Ixia met her betrothed, Prince Konrad of the Sky Citadel of Kyrosia. She and the prince fell deeply in love, and several months later they were to be married. Unfortunately, it was on Princess Ixia Lightspirit's wedding day that the casters commenced their upheaval._

_The infamous Battle of Quelling, the civil war that shook Terraria to its core, had begun. Enraged casters had surrounded the palace, demanding entry and using their assorted weapons to break down the doors. Before anyone could react, a wave of angry magicians burst through the palace gates and swarmed up the steps towards the altar._

_King Leonidus threw on his armor and thrust himself into the fray, calling upon the royal army. Queen Iphiria snatched her daughter by the collar and raced with her down the corridor to Ixia's room. Without hesitation, the queen shoved the Princess into her room, bade her sleep, and slammed the door, muttering a quick sealing incantation over it before the angry wave of sorcerers descended upon her. _

_Good King Leonidus, lovely Queen Iphiria, and Prince Konrad all died in the Battle of Quelling. After years of cataclysm, the casters finally drove the summoners into oblivion, nearly a decade after Ixia's wedding day. The defeated royal supporters remained in the darkness, strengthening, gathering power as the next four thousand years elapsed._

_Meanwhile, Ixia herself remained in her sealed bedchamber, still wearing her bridal gown and ceremonial tiara. The last thing her mother had told her to do was sleep, and sleep she did, until the palace crumbled into ruin around the chamber and new heroes had risen and fallen._

_Finally, exactly four thousand years after she had been sealed in her room, Ixia woke to a tapping noise on her door. She arose stiffly and opened it, blinking her eyes at the sudden light. She was amazed by what she saw; instead of the white marble halls of the palace, she saw instead a lush green forest. She was so dazed that her eyes almost passed over the girl standing in front of her._

_She had raven-black hair that hung to her shoulders and teal blue eyes that glimmered with endless wisdom. Countless magical weapons hung from her shoulders, her hips. She smiled at Ixia._

_"Glad to see you're awake," she said brightly. Ixia shook her head. What atrocious grammar! And such a terrible accent! She could hardly recognize her own tongue in this stranger's mouth._

_"Er..." she fumbled. (One does not speak too well after spending four thousand years asleep.) "I am Ixia Lightspirit, Princess of Terraria. Prithee, what be thine name?"_

_The girl looked confused, then ventured, "Calythé. Calythé Night."_

_"I demand to see my father, His Majesty the King Leonidus," Ixia croaked._

_Calythé shook her head. "I need to get you to Embrea. And teach you to speak properly."_

_AND THUS PASSED MANY YEARS._


	2. Chapter 1: Cassandra

Chapter 1

There was a nervous knock at the door of the Magicians' Guild.

Across the main hall, the woman's face lit up with joy and she rushed to open the door, immediately ambushing the girl at the door with a hug. "Cassandra, it's so good to see you! You got so big!"

"It's good to see you too, Auntie Ametha," said the visitor, ineffectually trying to loosen the mage's grip around her torso. She only managed to wiggle free when Ametha let go.

Ametha smiled at her and brushed back her purple bangs, now shot through with silver. "You have no idea how excited everyone was for you to come. I honestly believe they would worship you like a goddess, given the chance."

Cassandra brushed her off. "Aw, come on, Auntie. That's a major lie and you know it."

Ametha shook her head with mock shame. "Guilty as charged, sweetie. But you _do_ know how happy your parents are to see you, right?"

"Ametha," boomed a voice from the far end of the hall, "I think she knows. Now, if you could kindly let a pair of mages say hello to their daughter?"

Two mages emerged from the corridor, a woman and a man. The woman wore green robes that complemented her emerald eyes and her silver-streaked green hair. Her husband wore white, with creamy white-blond hair. His left eye was a pale gold, while the other eye was replaced by a curious magical device that acted like a small camera. Cassandra joyfully launched herself at them, enveloping them both in a long-armed hug. "Mom! Dad!"

"Cassie, you look beautiful, as always," said her mother, holding her at arm's length. It was true; Cassandra had always been a pretty child. She had extraordinarily long blond hair, blue eyes, and rosy cheeks with a slim and muscular figure. Now, at eighteen, there was a certain ruggedness about her and her face that could be explained due to the fact that she spent all her time outside - her hair was a paler blond, bleached by the sun; her face and forehead were sunburnt more often than not, and her lips were always chapped. Nowadays, Cassandra always wore a set of molten hellstone armor interwoven with lava and carried a massive, flaming war hammer, but she had had the decency to remove it before entering the Guild (with all the wood and fabric, she didn't want to burn anything).

"Blue skies and sunshine, that's my secret," laughed Cassandra. "Never fails!"

"Come on, Cassandra. All our old friends are here, waiting to say hello to you," said her father, the glass lens of his camera eye twinkling with laughter.

Cassandra turned and was about to follow her parents into the corridor when something strange caught her eye from outside the window.

Underneath one of the trees behind the Guild was a strange woman, looking at Cassandra with murder in her eyes. She was clothed in a dappled material that helped her camouflage with the trees; only her bright blond hair and sharp green eyes gave her away. She clutched a long staff like a walking stick, which was serving as the perch for a massive black raven. Cassandra blinked and shook her head, and when she looked back, the woman was gone.

"Cassie?" Her mother inquired around the corner. "Are you feeling all right? Come on, we're waiting for you."

Cassandra dismissed the vision of the woman under the tree as a trick of the light, shook her head again and followed her parents into the corridor.


	3. Chapter 2: A Few Years Before

**Holy crap, you guys! I've been having so much writer's block these last few months, but you guys really wanted a third chapter so HERE IT IS! Thank you guys for your requests, and now I've got to figure out what to do next...**

Chapter 2

_A few years before..._

It had been a few months since Princess Ixia had been awoken by Calythé. On this morning, as she was walking through the forest, she was surprised to see a small figure hiding in the thickets beyond, clad in dark robes edged with blue.

"Is someone there?" Ixia called hesitantly.

She thought she heard a small voice in the bush say, "By the gods, it is she!" Moments later, the figure burst out of the bushes and fell to its knees in front of her, its hood falling down to reveal a young boy - still a child - with freckles and pure white hair. He began to kiss her feet. "My lady!"

"Who are you?" said Ixia, half disgusted and half intrigued. "And could you please stop kissing my feet?"

The boy yelped and stood so fast that he almost lost his balance. He then bowed so low that the tassels of his robe touched the ground. "I offer the most sincere of apologies, O monarch," he squeaked. "I meant you no offense and wish not to risk your holy wrath! I AM NOT WORTHY!" At this he fell back down to his knees and began beating his head against the ground, sobbing "I am not worthy" over and over again.

"Oh, don't patronize me," Ixia snapped, which only made the boy's despairing wails louder. Finally she realized that this would get her nowhere, and instead she calmly asked, "Now, could you please stand up and tell me who you are and why you find me so interesting?"

The boy stood up, slower this time, took a gulping breath, and said, "My apologies, O queen. I am Eytan, from the Summoners' Guild, and you are the Princess Ixia Lightspirit, are you not?"

"I am."

"Then you must come with me," said Eytan, taking her hand and leading her away.

Eytan led Ixia through the forest for miles and miles, into the darkest thickets and the thickest trees, into places not even Calythé or Ramisse would ever dare to tread. Finally, footsore and weary, they arrived at the base of an enormous oak tree. Eytan knelt down and knocked five times on a trapdoor in the root.

"Who goes there?" came a sharp voice from inside.

"Eytan," said Eytan. "And I have the honorable Princess Ixia with me."

There was an exasperated sigh. "Eytan, you have to give this up. Remember those last two worthless girls you brought in, claiming each time that she was our holy Princess? I've never seen two worse summoners in my life."

"But she really is, I'm sure of it," said Eytan.

"Oh, all right. But I'm telling you, if the Hydrae say she is not the Princess, you'll be scrubbing toilets for the rest of your life. Let her in." The trapdoor swung open, and Ixia and Eytan climbed down inside the tree.

Under the tree was a great underground metropolis. Ixia could see houses along the walls of the caverns and lanterns hanging from the roots of the tree, while people bustled about a great city square below.

"What is this place?" she asked in wonder.

"This, my lady," said Eytan, with a wide gesture, "is the last of the followers of King Leonidus Lightspirit and Queen Iphiria. Your arrival here has been awaited for thousands of years. But," he said, with a nervous glance about, "this really is not my place to tell you. I shall leave that to the Master of the Hydrae. I wish you luck in tomorrow's Trial, O princess." He hastily pulled his hood over his head and scurried off.

Another summoner, in robes bordered with purple, appeared at Ixia's side. "Come," hissed a cold female voice inside the hood.

Ixia followed her up an elegant spiral staircase and along a great root of the tree. Once they reached the very center of the root mass, the summoner gestured to a pair of rope ladders. "Climb down."

She obediently climbed down, into a small, prettily furnished bedroom that appeared to be hanging from the roots of the tree. "This is the royal bedchamber," said the summoner. "You will sleep here tonight, but if you are not the Princess, then after tomorrow's Trials you will never sleep again." Ixia could hear the smirk in her voice. "Be down in the city square by eight tomorrow, and no later. Sleep well, Princess," the summoner spat, then stalked off.

Ixia lay back in the bed, and the combination of the day's tiredness and the gently swinging bedroom sent her crashing immediately into sleep.


	4. Chapter 3: In The Pavilion

Chapter 3

"I'm glad to be here," said Cassandra, on a walk with her parents through the gardens behind the Magicians' Guild.

"We're glad to see you too," said her father. "Maybe a little too glad," he added, elbowing her mother in the ribs.

"I may have decided to throw something," she admitted sheepishly.

Cassandra eyed her. "Let me guess," she said, slowly and carefully. "Mom got word that I was coming, started crying from sheer joy, and then decided to throw a giant party and invite half of the heroes on this side of the crimson."

Her mother began laughing hysterically, and Cassandra smiled. "Mom, you're so predictable."

"I'm sorry, Cass. I couldn't help myself," her mother chortled, recovering from her hysterics. "But seriously, though. You're a fully grown young woman now, and I feel you should find a Guild to join. You've always had the spark of a great hero in you, my girl," she added, "and I think that somewhere like the Warriors' Guild is the perfect place for you to practice and bring that out."

"Besides," added her father, "the headmaster is a beloved family friend. I'll never forget what he's done for us." With that, he took on the gaze of a man remembering as he recalled a distant memory.

"And he's here today!" her mother said cheerfully, to break the silence. "Over there, in fact." She gestured to a pavilion, full of noise and laughter and all sorts of people from different Guilds milling about. Cassandra and her parents walked over to a tall, battle-worn gentleman in crimsonite armor. "Hello, Lorre."

Lorre turned to face Cassandra. She saw a pair of twinkling eyes in his scarred face, but behind them there was an imperceptible sadness. He smiled. "Why, Cassandra! How you've grown. The last time I saw you, you were just this tall." He held a hand just above his knee, then knelt slightly and looked into her eyes. "You're looking more like your namesake every day," Lorre said softly, gently smoothing her hair with a hand that was missing a finger. For an instant Cassandra thought she saw tears in his eyes, waiting to fall, but he blinked and shook his head and stood back up, and they were gone.

"It's nice to see you too, Uncle Lorre!" she said cheerfully, in an attempt to lighten the mood.

A slender young woman in shimmering blue armor sprinted over, the yellow lightning boots on her feet kicking up twin trails of dust. "Lorre! Thunder! Emergency meeting in five!"

Lorre shook his head slightly. "Miss Briarcliff, would you consider slowing down for a little bit? You live your whole life swiftly. Slow down for a moment. This is Cassandra Zevulon, Thunder's daughter."

"Hello," Cassandra said shyly.

"Pleasure to meet you, Cassandra," was the reply. "I've heard lots about you. Name's Bryn Briarcliff, Headmistress of the Archers' Guild, and I need to hold an emergency meeting with the other Guildmasters."

Lorre rolled his eyes. "I swear to the gods, Bryn, if this is something stupid..."

"I am dead serious, sir," Bryn said evenly, casually removing her bow from her back and plucking the string. There was a slight hum and a faint shockwave rippled through the pavilion. "There's a major threat rising, and we are all in grave danger."


	5. Chapter 4: The Hydra Ceremony

Chapter 4: The Hydra Ceremony

"Wake up, Princess, if that is who you truly are." A sharp voice sliced its way into Ixia's dream, forcing her awake from a nightmare of eyes, tentacles, and a vast gray giant.

Ixia blinked her eyes. The nasty summoner from the previous night was crouched above the trapdoor to the royal chamber. "Wake up and prepare yourself. Do try not to be late; today is a big day for you."

"Mmm? What's happening?" Ixia asked coolly, blinking sleepily up at the summoner.

"Today is the Hydra Ceremony," said the summoner, and Ixia could detect a hint of a smirk in her voice. "Quickly, get dressed. You will find fresh garments in that box."

Ixia opened a small wicker box next to her bed and removed a pale blue robe, hooded, that reached her ankles. The summoner turned away while she slipped it on. "What's the Hydra Ceremony?"

The summoner's voice was gleeful. "Four thousand years ago, before our holy Princess (I don't believe you are she) went into slumber, the members of the royal family had a protector, a frost hydra who was coded only to protect those of royal blood and those of the line of the smith who had created it. You will meet that protector today. If it recognizes you (which it won't), you will live and the Summoners' Guild will once again have its rightful queen."

"And if it doesn't?" asked Ixia fearfully as she climbed out of the hanging bedroom.

The summoner giggled happily. "Oh, all kinds of terrible things. If you're just an impostor, you'll get to experience all of them firsthand." She leaned close, and Ixia could smell the summoner's breath on her face. "Every... single... one."

Ixia shuddered and followed the summoner down into the central chamber of the Summoners' Guild. There was a great pit in the center, and all around it stood summoners and royal supporters from all walks of life. Inside the pit was a podium, and upon it stood a huge, musclebound man in red robes, clutching an elaborate staff.

The summoner lifted Ixia's hood over her head. "Go."

Ixia took a deep breath and descended the steps into the pit, carrying herself proudly and gracefully. Eytan's small voice - "Go get 'em, my liege!" - made her smile, and she walked confidently up to the man in red.

He said no words, but began to chant an incantation, making strange motions with his large hands, and finally tapping the staff against the earth, three times. Icy energy began swirling around him, and he began shaping the energy into a mass - a dragon, about three feet high, made of ice. This was the Hydra.

The Hydra stretched its muscles and ran for a quick lap around the pit, much to the amusement of the crowd of summoners. It snorted, emitting two puffs of freezing steam. Only then did it seem to notice Ixia for the first time.

It padded suspiciously up to her, sniffing every part of her. And then, to her dismay, it flattened its ears to its head and began growling.

Ixia took off her hood and tried to calm it down. "Shh, shh." She reached out her hand and touched the dragon's nose, between its eyes. The Hydra saw her face and instantly calmed down, for even after thousands of years it recognized the person it had protected for so long.

Much to everyone's amazement, the Hydra walked up to Ixia and sat on its haunches. Ixia knelt, and then brought the dragon to her and gave it a hug. Its scales were warm and smooth, despite being made of ice.

Around her, a roar began echoing around the roots of the tree as the summoners gave up a massive cheer.

At last, at long, long last, they had found their true queen.


	6. Chapter 5: A New Threat

Chapter 5: A New Threat

Emi and Thunder filed into his office, followed by Bryn, Cassandra, and Lorre. Bryn placed her hands on the table and leaned forward.

"So," said Lorre. "You were saying? Grave danger, et cetera?"

"I think there is something both ground-breaking and unbelievably dangerous going on," said Bryn. "For thousands of years there have been only three Guilds in Terraria, right?"

"Right," came the reply from all around the table.

"_Wrong,_" Bryn said. "Ladies and gentlemen, Terraria has a fourth Guild, unknown to everyone for thousands of years."

"How do you know?" asked Lorre.

"A few days ago, the Archers' Guild was attacked," said Bryn, beginning to pace the room. "Many recruits were injured, though superficially. Almost all the attackers escaped, except one, whom I managed to apprehend. I haven't been able to interrogate him yet."

"A fourth Guild? But... how could you tell it wasn't just some pirates or something?" said Emi.

"They weren't pirates, or goblins, and they were definitely human. And they were all wearing similar uniforms. Besides, there's a peace treaty between the three known Guilds that's been in place since they were founded. Someone wrote 'Long Live Queen Ixia' on the wall of our storeroom, and there hasn't been human royalty in Terraria for... for a long time. Either they have a human queen, or they're worshipping a great and terrible deity."

"Queen Ixia... Hold on. I seem to recall reading something about a Princess Ixia in a book. Wait here," said Thunder, and he left the room. A couple of minutes later he returned with a tiny, ancient book entitled _The Compleat Historie of the Battle of Quelling_ in old, spidery script.

Thunder opened the book to an early page. "This might be it... The language is a bit archaic, but I think this might be what you're talking about."

_The Battle of Quelling was a Greate Civil Warre between the mages of Terraria and the Royal Summoners. During the tyme of King Leonidus and Queen Iphiria Lightspyrit's reign, a Massyve Battle broke out between the dueling communities. On the Wedding Day of the Princess, Ixia, the enrayged mages broke down the doores of the palace and commenced Fighting. Before any harm could come to her daughter, the Queen brought her daughter into her Royal Chamber and sealed the Doore with an Incantation. Moments later she was Killed but the Princess remaynes in her Chamber to this day..._

"Do you think this is the same princess? The Battle of Quelling was four thousand years ago," said Cassandra.

"I know exactly who would know the answer to that question," Emi said, chuckling a little.


	7. Chapter 6: Title too long, read above

Chapter 6: An Old Friend and a New Discovery

Emi knocked on the door of the tree house, three times.

A slot was pulled open, and two cloudy, teal blue eyes peeked through. "Who is it?"

"Emi, and some friends," she said. "Don't you recognize your own sister-in-law?"

The door swung open almost immediately, and Calythé Night stood in the doorway with a huge smile on her face. "Emi! What a surprise. Come on inside. I'd like to meet your friends." There were scars around her eyes. She was blind.

They filed after her into a comfortable little room in the tree house and sat down around a small table. Calythé went to a small storeroom and returned with some chilled shiverthorn juice, which she passed around. "We don't get visitors all that often."

"What happened to your eyes?" asked Thunder.

"A couple of particularly ambitious goblins," said Calythé. "Clever little things, they've learned how to control shadowflame. Who knew? And with my sight gone, I can see much clearer with my mind than I ever could."

"It's ironic," Thunder laughed. "I'm missing an eye, and my sister is missing her sight. We've only got one working eye between the two of us!"

"Calythé, this is our daughter Cassandra; Bryn Briarcliff, headmistress of the Archers' Guild; and Lorre Samariettus, headmaster of the Warriors' Guild," said Emi. Calythé nodded.

"Bryn and Cassandra... the last time I saw you two girls, you were so little. And Lorre, Ramisse has told me so much about you," she added, shaking everyone's hands. When she had sat back down, she said, "So. What do you want? You people don't come anymore without requesting something."

"As a matter of fact, there's another grave danger rising," Bryn said, taking a sip. "There's a fourth Guild that's been hidden from Terrarians for as long as any of us can remember. The Archers' Guild was actually attacked."

"Oh yeah, I remember that," said Calythé calmly. "As a matter of fact, I was part of that Guild for a little while."

Emi gasped. "Wait, WHAT?"

"Yep, the Summoners' Guild. Many years ago I was a member, very briefly. Summoning isn't that hard - it's basically a derivative of magic," said Calythé. "You still need to use mana, but you use it to summon a minion. The very best summoners can control eight or nine at once, though there are ancient texts and glyphs depicting summoners with up to eleven. I don't know how it could be done, though. It would require an incredible amount of power and concentration."

"Okay, that's one question answered," said Lorre. "There's one more question we have, though. When you were at the Summoners' Guild, did you ever meet someone named Ixia? Bryn says that 'Long Live Queen Ixia' was scrawled on her storeroom wall."

"Ixia. I remember her... while I was at the Summoners' Guild, they were always talking about awaiting the return of someone named Princess Ixia, and later on I found this sealed room and she was inside. Apparently was sealed in her room thousands of years ago, on her wedding day. She stayed at the treehouse for a little while, but then she disappeared. Such a sweet, lovely girl..."

"It doesn't make sense," Bryn muttered. "It just doesn't make sense..."

"Don't tell me that the kid I found was the same Princess Ixia they were looking for," Calythé said, with disbelief. "They were going to extreme lengths to find her. One time they brought in a girl and then brought out the royal frost hydra to see if she was really the princess."

"What happened?" asked Cassandra, dreading the answer.

Calythé shuddered. "I won't go into detail, but let's just say I was sitting in the splash zone when it happened."

"Too much information, Miss Calythé," said Bryn, disgusted.

"If she's the real princess, we may be in a lot of danger," said Calythé, standing up. "If there's gonna be fighting, er..."

"What is it, Cal?" asked Thunder.

"If there's gonna be fighting... would you folks mind taking a blind old mage for one last battle against the forces of evil?" asked Calythé shyly, blushing and smiling.

"Oh, please," Emi chuckled. "You've saved the world twice. Do you have to ask?"

Calythé laughed for joy. "Thanks. Now let's see, where did I put my nimbus rod?"

"It's still my nimbus rod," said Thunder, "and I took it back."

"I was using it, you know. Not cool," Calythé snapped, her cloudy eyes flashing.


	8. Chapter 7: Cults and Deities

Chapter 7: Cults and Deities

Calythé filed after Bryn into a room in the Archers' Guild. Its occupant sat up and stared at them. It was a teenaged boy, small in stature, with a strange robe and pure white hair.

"I shan't tell you anything," he huffed. "I shall not besmirch the glory of the great Queen Ixia!"

"We didn't ask you to... besmirch your queen," said Bryn firmly. "We have a few questions, and if you don't tell us the answer, Calythé here may be blind but she can look in your head."

"I'll read your thoughts with my mind's eye," she said coolly. "So, first things first, what is your name and position?"

The boy gulped. "My name is Eytan," he said. "I am the Queen's primary aide."

Calythé fingered the edge of Eytan's robe. It was pale gray, bordered with strange symbols. Atop the hood was a circular symbol, with four colored dots and a glyph depicting an ancient deity who resembled Cthulhu. "When I was in the Summoners' Guild, the robes were very different from this. Why the change?"

"Our Queen is a vengeful ruler," said Eytan proudly. "Her goal is to strike down the other Guilds and become the queen of all Terraria. So she has been researching unbelievably ancient technologies and deities to heighten her powers. She outfitted the rest of the Summoners' Guild in these new robes to increase our collective power."

"What kind of deities? Technologies?" asked Bryn suspiciously.

"Very ancient technologies," said Eytan. "She knows of an ancient cult that worshipped a deity of the moon. Apparently those who worshipped the moon were imbued with unbelievable power: warriors with the power of the sun, rangers with the power of the vortices, mages with the power of the nebulae, and summoners with the power of the stars. I found a notebook in her quarters in which the word 'STARDUST' was scrawled over and over and over again."

"What did you say about a cult?" Calythé said slowly.

"An ancient moon cult," Eytan repeated. "Queen Ixia knows the last of the cultists live by the dungeon. One day she will find their leader and learn all the secrets of the cult, so she can summon the celestial deity and gain untold power!"

"Thank you for your time, Eytan," said Bryn quickly, standing. "Now we need to go to the dungeon."

_Later..._

Bryn, Calythé, and Eytan stood at the gaping mouth of the dungeon and glanced around. The ground was littered with blue-robed bodies.

Bryn gasped. "We're too late. She got here first."

"There are voices from the top," said Calythé. "Take us up with those lightning boots of yours."

"Good idea." Bryn took Calythé on her back and brought her and Eytan up, one at a time.

Eytan gasped. "My liege!"


	9. Chapter 8: Moon of Nightmares

Chapter 8: Moon of Nightmares

**A few years before...**

Ixia tossed and turned in bed, making the bedroom sway slightly. It was late at night on the day of the Hydra Ceremony, and after being crowned the Queen of the Summoners' Guild, Ixia was deep in a nightmare.

**_Four different Pillars under the sky  
__Four different methods and ways to fight  
Four barriers keeping the evil at bay  
Four trials to take on the end of days_**

**_First the Vortex, to attack from afar  
Second the summons from the dust of the Stars  
Third the Sun, for combat close by  
Fourth the Nebula, to attack with the mind_**

_**Take down the Pillars to awaken the Moon**  
**But fighter beware of your impending doom...**  
_

_A clearing._

_The sky darkens in the distance._

_Screams. Pain._

_A fissure opens before me. Fingers, a palm. A huge gray hand, big bloodshot eye in the palm. Straining, stretching._

_The arm. The shoulder._

_The head, grotesque and monstrous. Glowing white discs where eyes should be, huge eye in the middle of the forehead._

_Tentacles. Reaching, consuming. Dust rains down._

_It is still lifting itself out of the pit. A collarbone and ribs. Emaciated. Gray skin clings to bones the size of warships. A second arm._

_Vertebrae, reaching down to where there is usually a pelvis but where there is nothing. The beast's head lifts upon the sky, but its body ends just below its ribs._

_Its core, where a heart would be. Glowing green walls of muscle, grotesque and pulsating faintly._

_A mouth. Lined with needlelike teeth. It opens in an earth-shaking roar._

_The eyes begin absorbing light. Beams begin converging, on me._

_Power. So much pure power. I can feel it, racing through my veins into my very soul._

_And with it comes pain. Unbelievable amounts of pain, searing agony that penetrates my entire being and tears scream after scream from my lips._

_I look at my arms. Though my vision is blurred with the pain and the light of the beams, I can see light beneath my skin._

_Or is it bone, exposed?_

_Small, ragged objects fly around me in a whirling tornado._

_Are they pieces of my skin?_

_Pain. Screams._

_And silence._

A pair of hands on Ixia's shoulders jolted her awake. "Hush, Queen Ixia! Calm yourself!"

Ixia slowly came awake to see Eytan's anxious face above her. "Oh, Eytan. I was having the most terrifying nightmare..."

"You were screaming in your sleep. Over and over and over again. Loudly. Half the Summoners' Guild is awake."

"So what can I do?

Eytan sat down on Ixia's bed. "There's a cult, the Cult of the Blue Moon. They may be able to help you with your nightmares."

"I sincerely hope so, but I refuse to associate with cults," said Ixia firmly. "Cults are the reason my kingdom fell. Cults like the mages."

"Mages are no longer a cult, Your Majesty," said Eytan. "Besides, do you want to have unrelenting nightmares?"

"Good point... I've been having this nightmare every single night since leaving the palace. Besides, I have a few questions for any cultists who worship the moon," Ixia mused, and then she took on an inward look and sat, lost in thought, for a long time.


	10. Chapter 9: Dungeon Showdown

Chapter 9: Dungeon Showdown

**WHOA SO LONG! I figure, you guys wanted more of this story so you guys deserve a twice-as-long chapter full of nice, juicy exposition! (Those of you who listen to the podcast Welcome to Night Vale will recognize the trope of the Smiling God.)**

**Sorry.**

Calythé stormed across the roof of the dungeon, her mages' robes swishing around her feet. "IXIA!" she thundered, her blind eyes furious.

Ixia turned away from the cultist leader, eyes widening. "Cal? What are you do - HURK!" Calythé shot out her arm and balled her hand into a fist, and an invisible force grabbed Ixia by the neck and lifted her off the ground. She squeezed her fist tighter, and the invisible energy constricted Ixia's throat. Ixia gasped for breath.

"Ixia," Calythé hissed. "Going around calling yourself a queen, are you? If I had only known what you were capable of... if I had only known your intentions... I should kill you where you stand," she snarled.

Ixia let out a strangled squawk, her hands scrabbling at her throat. Her huge raven, hearing her distress, plummeted from the sky and dived for Calythé, raking its vicious talons against her arm. Calythé shouted in pain and recoiled, letting Ixia drop to the ground, where she began coughing and sobbing for air.

"You don't understand," Ixia rasped, her voice an oxygen-starved whisper. "I thought you were different. The mages killed my mother, my father, my fiancé... everyone I ever knew or loved. What's to stop me from doing the same thing to you? I hold the throne of the Summoners' Guild, but I was destined for the throne of Terraria. I'm trying to take back what is rightfully mine." She coughed, and then drew herself back up. The raven fluttered down and landed on her shoulder.

"By killing every innocent person in this land!" Calythé shrieked. "If I had known what you were going to try to do, I would never have unsealed that room. I know what you want to do, Ixia. You've been conferring with cultists who are trying to awaken a deity that is powerful enough to destroy all life in Terraria!"

"Not the first time it's happened," Bryn muttered under her breath.

"Nonsense!" shrilled a new voice, high and thin. Behind Ixia was a tiny, masked figure in a dark blue robe, with mysterious sigils embroidered on its borders in golden thread. It couldn't have been more than four feet tall, and it was impossible to tell its gender from its appearance or voice. The mask was pure white, with a pair of eye holes and a long beak-like nose. This was the leader of the cult, and now, the very last member of it.

The cultist leader hemmed and continued. "I said, nonsense," it squeaked. "The Cult of the Blue Moon wants Terraria to be cleansed. When the Great Moon Lord awakens, he will destroy this corrupt world and let a new one grow! He is a benevolent deity, a Smiling God!"

"Yeah, but where does that leave the rest of us?" Bryn snarled. "The Moon Lord, as you call him, is going to destroy all life on this world!"

"No, he will not," said Ixia smugly. "The Great Moon Lord is held at bay by four barriers, four giant pillars. When the summoning ritual is complete, the four pillars will rise, and those who can destroy all four are given unbelievable power!"

"I thought you just wanted the throne," Bryn said.

"Oh, but I don't just want the throne," Ixia said smugly. "I want revenge too. I shall become the first person to ever take down the Great Moon Lord, and ALL WILL BOW BEFORE ME!" She looked up and raised her fists to the sky. "The Summoners' Guild crowned me as their queen. Terraria shall crown me as its GODDESS!"

"Ridiculous!" squeaked the cultist leader. "The Great Moon Lord will never turn you, a mortal maiden, into a goddess."

Ixia turned on the tiny cultist. "Oh, you're mistaken. Surely you, of all people, knows that fragments of the fallen pillars can be used to create some of the most powerful weapons known to man. I shall use this technology to overthrow the Great Moon Lord and become a god-queen!"

"Our only goal in the Cult of the Blue Moon is to have the Great Moon Lord cleanse the world and let it grow anew," the cultist hissed. "Not to provide power at the whims of insane royalty!"

Ixia leaned down and put her face a few inches away from the eyes of the cultist leader's mask. "Enough," she said, in a soft but threatening voice. "You have been of use to me, and now your use has been exhausted. Begone."

With that, Ixia straightened up and gave a queer whistle. The raven on her shoulder fluttered up and settled on the cultist's back, one foot on each shoulder. It stretched its powerful wings, and then, to the horror of Bryn, Calythé, and Eytan, shot up into the air with the cultist leader in tow and dropped it.


	11. Chapter 10: Stars in the Ground

Chapter 10: Stars in the Ground

**Sorry I haven't posted in so long, you guys. Life happened and I ran into a writer's block. This is unforgivable, but after a LONG hiatus, I'll try to get LoT back under way at the same pace it was at before!**

Bryn revved her boots and shot up into the air, trying to intercept the cultist leader's rapid descent. Ixia, her face solemn but triumphant, called her raven to her and leaped off the side of the building, the giant bird slowing her descent with its great wings.

With the purr of quiet engines, Bryn slowly descended to the rooftop, carrying the blue-robed cultist. It seemed unscathed, save for some puncture wounds where the raven's talons had pierced its shoulders.

"Fools," it squeaked, shuffling upright. "FOOLS!"

"What are you bellyaching about?" Eytan snapped.

"You should not have saved me," the cultist shrilled. "To awaken the Great Moon Lord, a cultist leader must die! I was about to fulfill the ancient texts, I would have been a martyr for the cleansing of the world!"

"Your god is no god," said Calythé. "This Moon Lord can wipe out the entirety of living beings in Terraria with one blink!"

The cultist regarded Calythé coolly. "So be it," it shrilled, removing an ornate sacrificial knife from its sleeve. Before anyone could stop it, the cultist plunged the jeweled blade into its heart and crumpled into dust. The instant the knife entered the cultist's chest, there was an earsplitting roar, followed by a loud, pained groan from the earth, and the ground began to shake.

_Meanwhile_...

Cassandra was reading a book in the Magicians' Guild's sunlit main hall when she took an offhanded glance at the window. Looking again, she dropped the book and raced to the window, her mouth hanging open in disbelief.

There were two suns in the Terrarian sky.

The normal yellow sun was being drowned out by a new one, slightly higher in the sky. It was purple and emitted a sickly violet light. Cassandra tried to scream, but no sound came out of her mouth as she bolted out the door and into the courtyard, mesmerized and horrified by the terrible light. A moaning noise from the earth distracted her and she flicked her eyes downwards and dropped to her knees.

A circle of tiny, wormlike pink nodules were slowly growing out of the stone tiles of the courtyard. Cassandra reached forward to touch one, but yelped with pain - the little tentacles were burning with both heat and disease. Simply touching it had caused her finger to bleed uncontrollably. Cassandra stuck the digit in her mouth and stared at the pink objects, when she noticed that they were growing larger, sprouting rapidly from the cobblestones. Finally, they thrust upward, sending Cassandra flying and hauling up a massive pillar from the ground. Shards of rock and dirt flew everywhere as she looked up at the pillar. Veined with throbbing pink vessels, it looked to be made of a mixture of ebonstone and flesh. It was at once a horror and hypnotic, drawing Cassandra in. She heard strange, otherworldly screams and felt her vision fading, her mind screaming in agony as she stared at the light and the pillar. Hypnotized, her eyes completely blank and her hands and feet numb, she began walking towards the pillar like a zombie.


	12. Chapter 11: The Four Barriers

**Warning: This chapter is kind of graphic. Reading this might cause mild pain. Heck, I started getting a headache in the middle of writing this chapter, though that might just be from staring at my screen at night. Still... I'd recommend that you bring an aspirin or something.**

Chapter 11: The Four Barriers

Ixia's raven landed silently at the roots of the great tree. Opening the trapdoor, she dropped into the cavern as one of her aides ran up, looking panicked. "Your Highness! Thank the gods you're all right, my queen! Something terrible is happening!"

"Oh?" Ixia smirked, raising one eyebrow and cocking her head in an inquisitive gesture.

The summoner took her arm and sprinted with her to a hole in the cavern wall, containing a periscope. When Ixia put her eye to the hole, she saw a horrid sight: a floating pillar composed of writhing gray flesh, topped with a crown of luminous blue tentacles. Above the pillar, the yellow sun of Terraria was being drowned out by a much larger, brighter star, one that gave off an intense, pale blue light. The air smelled like stars and decay, and as she watched, horrifying otherworldly creatures began congregating around the floating obelisk. Ixia could feel her focus growing sharper, despite the intense pressure she knew was building behind her eyeballs. She felt her eyes were about to explode when her aide tapped her shoulder. "Your Highness?"

Ixia pulled away from the periscope. Her focus immediately blurred, but the pain behind her eyes stayed. "Don't worry, my dear," she said, grinning despite the agony. "Everything is going according to plan."

_Meanwhile..._

Cassandra continued to stare and shuffle forward, slowly raising her hand to touch the pillar. Her fingers were just inches from brushing the pulsating surface when she suddenly felt herself tackled and thrown to the ground. She twisted, with a pained grunt, to look at her attacker. It was Lorre, shrouded in a violet miasma from her warped vision. She regarded him with annoyance more than fear, hissing and spitting while attempting to get free.

Lorre glared down at her in confusion and reached for something atop her head. Cassandra heard his fingers close on something soft and squishy and immediately felt a skull-splitting agony as he ripped something off the top of her head. As Lorre scooped her up and sprinted for the Magicians' Guild, the last thing she saw was the sky, awash in multicolored light from not one, not two, but five different suns. Cassandra's vision swam, the pain fighting with the horrid beauty and the multicolored sunshine melding into a psychedelic oil slick. Then, finally, the agony triumphed and her vision went completely black.

_A clearing._

_Screams and pain._

_The four barriers. _

_Orange. Surrounded by extraterrestrials wielding spears of pure flame - or perhaps it was more than flame, spears of superheated plasma that slice in twain anyone and anything foolish enough to approach._

_Green. Alien insects crawl from the inside of the great pillar, still coated with diseased fluid, their slime-coated eyes staring and staring until even the most fearless runs screaming._

_Purple. Strange and horrible beings float about, emitting their psychotropic waves to make even those with the strongest of minds believe whatever they say without question._

_Blue. Cell-like things, almost not worth the name of creatures, which slowly surround prey without any escape, and only multiply if struck._

_They form a diamond, and in the middle, heavy and gray... La Lune._

_The moon, bound by the pillars. Without the protection of the yellow sun of Terraria, the eldritch ritual of the otherworldly deity can continue uninterrupted._

**_The preparations are nearly complete. All We need are these things..._**

**_A destroyer of the barriers  
The body and soul of one who mourns  
Blood of those who are not of this soil_**

**_Bring these to Us, and We will cleanse this wretched planet, for We are the Nothing and the Everything, We are the Birth and Death of the universe, We are the Sun and Stars, We are the Moon. We are the Moon._**

**_We are the planet._**

**_We are Terraria._**

**_WE ARE TERRARIA._**

**_W3 AR7E T0-ERR/ARIA._**

**_0T P-80AG -ERR/AAOIFA3876._**

**_ERR._**

**_ERR._**

**_ERR._**

**_... - - - ..._**

**_... - - - ..._**

_Pain. So much unbearable agony, enough to destroy the very soul._

_Screams. Howls of purest terror, the endless keening shrieks of one who has seen the cruelly vast emptiness beyond._

_Pain. Screams._

_And silence._


	13. Chapter 12: Staring at the Sun

Chapter 12: Staring at the Sun

Eytan dropped into the tree's roots. "Ixia? Your Majesty? Where are you?"

He was greeted by one of her other aides. "Eytan! How did you get back?"

"I snuck off while that wretched blind mage was asleep," he spat. "The queen! Where is the queen, Marina?"

"Eytan, I'm very worried about the queen," she said softly, taking his arm and leading him to the periscope.

Eytan peered through the hole and immediately recoiled. "MY EYES!" he howled, covering his face with his hands and rubbing his eyes and forehead vigorously.

Marina grabbed his hands and yanked them away from his face. "Stop! You'll only put yourself into more pain - oh..."

Eytan's eyes were a horrid sight. While the iris had become a piercing pale blue, it seemed like every vein in the sclera had burst, turning the whites of his eyes red. He lowered his head and put his hands to his face again, shaking with sudden and uncontrollable tears of agony. Marina screamed and screamed as bloody tears streamed down his face, leaving long red streaks from the terrible eyes.

Eytan hiccuped. "Marina, I can't see... all I can see is the future... the moon... Marina, where are you? Oh, the pain..." The tears continued to stream down his cheeks as he felt the air.

Marina grabbed his hands, her voice shuddering with tears of her own. "I'm here. I'm here." She pulled him close, sobbing. The front of her robe became stained with blood and her tears soaked Eytan's pure white hair. "Eytan, I'm here, you're safe. Please, just hold on until a healer gets here."

"Marina..." Eytan gulped. "You don't understand. I see nothing and yet everything. I can see only the vast emptiness of what is beyond and the end of all things..." He let out an agonized cry as the tears continued to flow. His cheeks were completely red and the air smelled of blood.

After what seemed like an eternity of agony and wailing, two healers with a stretcher were finally at their side. They pried the wailing aides apart, laid the now-unconscious Eytan on the stretcher, and began high-tailing it to the medical quarters, followed by a tearful Marina.

Outside, underneath the blue pillar, stood Ixia.

She was staring directly at the new sun, the pale blue one, the large and unnatural usurper that was eclipsing Terraria's yellow sun. Streams of blood ran down her cheeks, except it was not blood but a pale blue fluid, one that had replaced the natural colors of the iris and sclera of her eyes. She was surrounded by hundreds of unnatural, extraterrestrial creatures who were never meant to walk Terraria's soil.

She was laughing. The blue fluid coursed down her cheeks and dripped onto her robes as the blue sun blazed and the pillar sent out monstrous visions, and all the while Ixia, crazed and blinded, laughed maniacally as she stared into the sun.


	14. Chapter 13: Seeing the Light

Chapter 13 - See The Light

Cassandra tossed and turned, muttering in her sleep. Her head and eyes were swathed in bandages and an IV dripped a sparkling, dark blue fluid beside her. Thunder and Emi were beside themselves, though Bryn and Calythé had both confirmed that she was going to live and make a full recovery.

"She had an encounter with something truly nasty," Calythé said darkly, briefly glancing outside at the horrible purple light.

Lorre walked in. "I have the beast here." He held a large jar of a clear fluid. Suspended within the fluid was a horrifying creature. It looked like a swollen pink brain. Below it was a nasty-looking tentacle. This one's was mangled and bloodied.

"This is a brain sucker, for lack of a better term," Lorre explained, holding up the jar. "They seem to swarm around the pillar. All I can really say is that there aren't really any easy ways to stop them from sitting on your head and hypnotizing you. It seems to affect your eyes and mental acuity above all."

"You can say that again," Bryn said matter-of-factly, stepping into the room. "I've been getting reports from all over Terraria. Apparently there are four of these horrid pillars in various locations around the world. There's also an orange one, a green one, and a blue one, and people are seeing up to five different suns in the sky just before having very painful eye problems."

"How can you be so impersonal about stuff like this?" asked Calythé incredulously. Bryn shrugged.

"In any case," said Lorre, shifting the jar in his grip, "there appears to not be that many ways to prevent being hypnotized. Whatever these creatures are, they're definitely not of our soil or they were never meant to be. Our human minds are very fragile against this menace."

Calythé cleared her throat. "I've been staring at where my senses tell me the purple sun is for several minutes."

"CAL! NO! DON'T LOOK STRAIGHT AT THE LIGHT!" Bryn rushed up, attempting to tackle her. Calythé simply pushed her aside.

"Sure, looking directly at the light and the suns is dangerous, but it can only hurt you if you can see it," she said, turning her head and standing up. "While I can see with my mind, the light cannot actually penetrate my eyeballs, so it can't hurt me."

"So what you're saying is..." Bryn asked, confused.

"What I'm saying is that the light must have some kind of hypno-psychotropic frequency that mesmerizes the brain through the optic nerve, or some sciencey stuff like that. Basically, if you can see the light, it'll hurt you, and when Miss Cassie wakes up, she'll probably be able to tell us how it affects humans. But if you can't see the light - say, because you're already blind - it won't be able to affect you. I can still 'see' it - if it's not blinding you it's actually a rather pretty color - but I can't actually SEE it."

There was a piercing scream from outside. A messenger from the Archers' Guild was standing in the courtyard, staring directly at the pink-violet sun. The boy's eyes were turning entirely mauve, from sclera to pupils, and there were rivulets of thick violet fluid running down his cheeks. The entire front of his tunic dripped a mixture of his own blood and the purple liquid. He howled in agony, unable to move. A second brain sucker clamped onto the top of his head, injecting the boy with psycho-manipulative chemicals as he let loose scream after heartbreaking scream.

Calythé rose and swept out. "Let me handle this," she shouted as she left the room. "The light won't harm me."

"Hey Lorre, why didn't it harm you?" asked Bryn.

"I didn't look," he replied very simply, shrugging.

_Meanwhile, at the Summoners' Guild..._

Eytan lay propped up in bed in the sanitarium, a cool bandage wrapped around his eyes. While the healers had done the best they could to wash the bloodstains off his face, he still had huge red blotches on his cheeks where it had refused to come off.

There came a soft knock on the door to his room. "Come in," he said uncertainly.

Marina entered the room. "Hello, Eytan."

"You," he hissed.

She sat down by his bed, where there was a small table with a cloth and a basin of cool water. After dipping the cloth in the water and wringing it, she began gently dabbing at Eytan's pale forehead. "Listen, Eytan, I shouldn't have brought you to the periscope. I should - this is my fault..." Marina lowered her head and began weeping softly, continuing to pat at his forehead with the cool cloth. Then she looked up suddenly. "Wha-"

There was a thick, pale blue fluid flowing down Eytan's face, soaking into his tunic, his sheets. He removed a hand from the sheets and gently moved Marina's hand aside, and then very deliberately removed the bandages around his eyes.

The whites, pupils, and irises of his eyes had turned completely blue, and the fluid was leaking from them at an astounding rate. He turned his head very slowly to face Marina, staring her down.

"Your fault?" he chuckled, blue liquid dripping from his jawline. "No, Marina, I have to thank you."

"W-why?" she stuttered, transfixed and unable to move despite desperately wanting to bolt.

"Oh, yes," Eytan intoned, unblinking. "For while staring at the blue sun may have blinded me, it has heightened my power, my focus, and all my other senses. And, indeed, I know the truth now! I have seen the vast and uncaring emptiness and I understand!"

"I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean," Marina said in a timid, quivering voice. He had not blinked or looked away since removing the bandages, and she somehow knew that he would be able to go for eternity without blinking, without the need to blink, without the desire to blink, without the ability to blink.

Eytan laughed, a deep laugh that was several voices at once, none of them his own.

"Poor, sweet, simple Marina," he giggled, "you never will, my dear."

Before Marina even had time to react, Eytan's hand shot out and closed around her neck. Marina felt herself lifted into the air, her hands scrabbling at her throat as she gasped for breath. Eytan, still laughing that strange and inhuman laugh, swiveled in bed and stood, never breaking his eye contact with the struggling girl.

"Long live La Lune," he snarled.

Then Eytan, without emotion, hurled Marina to the ground, breaking her neck and killing her instantly.

Satisfied, he strolled out of the room, dripping the blue liquid as he left.


	15. Chapter 14: Blindness and Madness

Chapter 14: Blindness and Madness

Cassandra tossed and turned, whimpering in her sleep as she unconsciously battled for control of her own mind.

**_Come with Us, Cassandra Zevulon. We will show you true power and control, and We will show you true happiness in the end of all things. Do you not want to be happy, Cassandra?_**

_Leave me alone. Get out of my head. Get off my planet!_

**_Face it, Cassandra. We will never leave. We are eternal. We are the eternity. We are the great nothingness of the reaches of the universe. We are Time and Space itself, and Our devices are far beyond your pitiful human comprehension. If We were to show you Our intent, your fragile mind would surely be utterly destroyed._**

_Then why do you want me, of all people?_

**_We do not just want you to join Us, Cassandra Zevulon. We are gathering power as We speak to you. Every one of your pitiful human seconds, another one of your pitiful human companions sees Our light, stares at Our suns, and is permanently blinded by Our divine and burning wrath. We show all those who look upon Our pillars the far reaches of the universe, the realm they can rule with Us once the damned things are destroyed. This is where you come in, Miss Zevulon._**

_If you believe I'll actually help you rise and take over the universe, you can take that belief and shove it where the sun doesn't shine. Where none of the... onetwothreefourFIVE suns up there ever shine. Why are there even five suns up there?!_

**_Oh, but what are you to do, Miss Zevulon? Leave the pillars be, and every human in Terraria is driven blind and insane. Destroy them, and We rise. Join Us to create Our new and perfect world, and you will be handsomely rewarded._**

_By which you mean I'll be reduced to a little pile of ash._

**_Must We argue semantics, you insolent whelp of a girl?_**

_Leave... my... headspace... ALONE!_

In her sleep, Cassandra clenched her fists and snarled, evolving into a roar. Behind the bandages, her eyes flicked open. She tore the IV out of her arm and ripped the bandages off her head, shielding her eyes at the bright purple sunshine as she sat up and leaped out of the cot.

She strode into the conference room to everyone's disbelief, planted her hands on the table, and stated very matter-of-factly: "We have a problem, guys."

Calythé was the first to recover, and grinned as she replied with "Ya think?"

_Meanwhile..._

Near the Archers' Guild, two new recruits were doing some field work gathering herbs. Unbeknownst to them, a second sun had appeared in the sky, one that was a pale emerald green.

One of them wiped his forehead, panting. "Hey, Nik, why is it so hot out here?"

"Beats me," snapped Nik. "Would you shut up and focus?"

"Okay, but I swear to you it's like a hundred degrees out here. I thought Terrarian spring was supposed to be warm and mild."

Nik sighed in exasperation. "They are. Okay, sure, it's hot. Now would you PLEASE shut up and get back to work?"

The second one straightened up and looked at the sky, and his jaw dropped. "Nik," he gasped, "look at the sky."

Nik looked up irritably. "My gods, do you EVER stop talking? There's nothing wrong with the - sky..." He stopped the second he saw the sky and the two suns. They both stopped, mesmerized, staring at the green sun, the irises, pupils, and sclera of their eyes rapidly turning pale green.

Their screams started simultaneously as the rivulets of thick emerald liquid began coursing down their faces...

_Meanwhile, in another location..._

The assistant headmaster of the Warriors' Guild had been standing in the courtyard for several hours when some of the recruits decided to bring him inside. At the urging of her friends, a very young trainee timidly walked outside into the harsh sunlight and tapped the assistant headmaster on the shoulder with a polite "Excuse me, sir?"

He did not respond, and her finger came away with an unbearable burning sensation, wet and sticky from an orange substance that had soaked into his tunic. She yelped in pain and alarm, then took a close look at the man's face.

His tunic and pants were dripping, as they were completely soaked through with a viscous yellow-orange fluid that pooled on the cobblestones at his feet. The trainee's eyes traveled up his body until they saw the fluid's source. It ran continuously from his eyes, which had been turned completely orange and were fixed, staring, on a single point in the sky.

When she followed his gaze, she saw the second sun, easily ten times as bright as the normal sun of Terraria, and she could feel the pressure behind her eyes and what she hoped were just burning tears beginning to trickle down her face...


	16. Chapter 15: Sinister Motions

Chapter 15: Sinister Motions

Cassandra planted her hands on the table. "The Moon Lord..." she said. "He spoke to me. He entered my headspace and talked to me. I know all about his agenda."

"How can we know if you're not being possessed now?" asked Bryn.

Cassandra gestured towards her eyes and face. "Do you see any goop?" Indeed, her face was clean and her eyes were their normal colors.

Bryn sat back. "Good point."

"So, anyway, I know the Moon Lord's entire plan," Cassandra continued. "There are four of these weird pillars all around the world, and four suns. In order to raise the Moon Lord, the pillars need to come together and subsequently be destroyed. In order to come together, a sufficient amount of people have to die. You stare at the light for too long, you become hypnotized and start oozing this colored guck that eventually congeals over your body, turning you into a statue."

"And the statues' purpose is...?" asked Calythé.

"Basically, they're food for the pillars. If enough goop statues are made and enough of the alien creatures die, the pillars will start to move."

"And then?"

Cassandra grimaced. "It can't be stopped, it can only be delayed. If the pillars stay up, the human population of Terraria will be eradicated just by the pillars and suns. However, the first opportunity to stop the carnage will be when the pillars are destroyed and the Moon Lord rises."

"And our chances of slaying the Moon Lord?"

"Honestly? Slim."

Calythé massaged her temples. "Well, isn't this a fine scenario to be in. We're all going to die."

"I know how that feels," said Bryn.

"Oh, will you EVER shut up about that?" Calythé snapped. "Little Miss 'I-Met-Four-Different-Gods-and-Saved-The-World.' You know, you're not the only person alive with that on your shoulders."

Bryn gave Calythé a queer look. "You know, if you hadn't opened that stupid chamber, this whole thing would never have happened."

"What are you saying?" asked Thunder, rising swiftly to defend his sister.

Bryn stood and moved towards him, close enough that he could feel her breath on his face. "I mean that if she hadn't let that kid princess out of her room, we wouldn't need to deal with this apocalypse thing. THIS IS ALL HER FAULT!" she finished, her voice rising to a shout, pointing an accusing finger at an enraged Calythé.

Calythé stood and swept over to Bryn, pushing her brother aside. "Listen to me, you insolent brat," she snapped. "You think that being Monavelle's kid will help you? I was young, and in the right place at the right time. Gods know, if I hadn't opened that room, it would have been you. It was a time bomb waiting to happen, DO YOU HEAR ME?" she spat, staring straight into Bryn's eyes with her own cloudy, blind ones. Summoning a ball of purple fire in the palm of her hand, she leaned closer to the terrified girl, who backed slowly away.

"My gods, lady," she stammered. "We're cool. We're cool." Slowly, hesitantly, without breaking her eerie eye contact, Calythé sat down, closing her fist to extinguish the magical fire.

"Guys," Cassandra reprimanded, "you don't realize the danger, do you? If we can't destroy the Moon Lord... well..." She did not finish.

Lorre stood up. "All right, let's do this," he said. "Just do your best not to look at the light or the pillars, keep the alien creatures away from those who haven't yet started oozing goop, and take these," he said, passing out headgear to Cassandra, Bryn, and Thunder.

"Thunder and I were tinkering with these," he said. "They're mostly just ordinary sleeping masks, but we managed to securely attach a pair of lenses to each."

"The lenses are specially enchanted against most hypnotic influences," said Thunder. "We're not sure, but we think they'll filter the hypnotic frequency from the alien light."

Cassandra strapped hers on. "Trippy."

Lorre performed a quick head count. "We've got one extra..."

Thunder stood up in a panic. "Where's my wife?" Indeed, Emi was nowhere to be seen. He raced out of the room without putting on the mask, screaming her name.

She was outside and staring at the pillar. Mauve fluid ran down her cheeks. Thunder screamed and ran to her, embracing her. She continued staring at the pillar, but her mouth opened slightly and she emitted a small noise as she slowly raised her purple-stained hands and folded her arms around her husband.

Cassandra screamed and ran to her parents. They stood inert, arms around each other, staring at the purple sun. The magical device in Thunder's missing eye fizzled and short-circuited as the violet liquid burst forth.

As their daughter screamed, the two enfolded each other in a last embrace as the liquid hardened, turning the two into a misshapen purple statue.

Cassandra dropped to her knees and wailed piteously. In the sky above her, the violet sun and pillar let out a shuddering groan.

All over the world of Terraria, people were covered in goo that had hardened into colorful statues. With these odd sentinels staring at them, the four pillars and suns emitted a collective grinding noise as they began to move.


End file.
